Eidos Comments On Rival Offers As Elevation Weighs In

UK-headquartered publisher Eidos Interactive, currently mulling two separate offers to acquire the company, has officially commented on the relative merits of the rival bids. These bids currently Elevation Partners, the U.S. venture capital fund offering 50 pence per Eidos share for a total of £71 million ($134m), and SCi, the UK-based publisher offering one new SCi share for every six Eidos shares (approximately £79 million ($149m) when originally offered.) In a statement officially released today, Eidos has announced that "discussions are ongoing as the Board continues to evaluate the merits of the certain value represented by the Elevation cash offer contrasted with the greater, but less certain, current value of the SCi paper offer." However, the main point of the statement is to warn that the decision process may take some time, as the release concludes: "The Board intends to await further clarification in relation to each offer and to take account of any further developments before recommending a final course of action which will be communicated to shareholders in due course." In addition to this, EM Holding, the vehicle for Elevation Partners' attempted acquisition of Eidos, has put out a news release criticizing SCi's bid for the Tomb Raider IP-holder. John Riccitiello, the former Electronic Arts CEO and current director of EM Holding, commented: "Eidos shareholders should not underestimate the demands of, and risk involved with, combining Eidos with SCi." He continued, in quite combative mode: "While SCi is a successful company, it has little experience of integrating larger businesses, of running a major international video games company or in managing significant intellectual properties. By contrast, EM Holding's cash offer provides certainty for Eidos shareholders." In spite of this plea, the recent news that SCi has the support of 26.3 percent of Eidos’ share holders means that the race to acquire Eidos is likely to continue for some time to come.